Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace

This post contains spoilers.

Before I see The Last Jedi in the cinema, I want to re-watch all of the other Star Wars movies in chronological order, so I started with The Phantom Menace earlier this week.  Last year I realized something about Chancellor Valorum, but I wanted to re-watch the movie again before I wrote about it.

In The Phantom Menace, he's referred to only as "Chancellor Valorum."  I don't remember where I first came across this (maybe it was in the novelization), but in the expanded universe, his first name is Finis.  Finis valorum is the Latin phrase "the end of values."  Finis is a third declension masculine singular noun in the nominative case, and valorum is a third declension masculine plural noun in the genitive case.

Based on the little that's seen of him in The Phantom Menace, Chancellor Valorum is a chancellor "of values," as his name suggests.  (Senator Palpatine tells Queen Amidala that the "accusations of [Valorum's] corruption" are "baseless," but this might just be part of his manipulation.)  His name has more significance in light of Palpatine's replacing him as chancellor.  Valorum represents "the end of values" because once Palpatine becomes the chancellor, he uses deception to gain power and eventually turns the Republic into the Empire.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S5E16 - "The Lawless"

This post contains spoilers.

In the Rebels Recon episode for the beginning of season four of Star Wars: Rebels, there were a few shots of Mandalore from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  This reminded me of something I noticed about a particular shot in "The Lawless" but forgot to write about.

What had been the group Death Watch has split into two factions: those who are loyal to Darth Maul, who has taken over Mandalore, and those who refuse to let an outsider rule them.  Meanwhile, Maul uses Duchess Satine to lure Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore, so he can have his revenge.  Bo-Katan, the leader of the Mandalorians who are against Maul, helps Kenobi escape and tells him to go back to the Republic and explain the situation, knowing that it will lead to a Republic invasion of Mandalore but also that such an invasion will remove Maul from power.

During Kenobi's escape, he and a group of Mandalorians encounter a giant, closed door.  As it opens, the camera angle tilts.  At first, the camera is level with the ground:

But as the shot goes on, the camera shifts so that everything is at an angle:

The shot as a whole illustrates the civil war that has beset Mandalore.  Previously, there had been stability, but now there is confusion.  Along with this shifting camera angle, the chaos is illustrated in the background, where Mandalorians are fighting each other and there are various blaster shots and explosions.

---&---

While exploring the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode guides on StarWars.com, I ran across a bit of trivia relevant to this episode.  In the Trivia Gallery for "The Mandalore Plot" (S2E12), it's explained that "The repeated cube imagery [on Mandalore] extends to the cubist painting seen in the various Mandalorian spaces, including an epic painting done in the style of Picasso's famous Guernica."  I don't recall seeing a Guernica-style painting in those season two episodes, but - even before I read that trivia - I thought I'd found a Guernica-style painting in this episode.  I noticed it the first time I saw the episode, but I wasn't convinced of its resemblance then.

The best view of the painting is provided by a wide-shot at the end of Sidious' lightsaber battle against Savage and Maul:

For comparison, here's Picasso's Guernica:

This article about the painting explains that Guernica was Picasso's response to the bombing of the city Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, so its appearance in this episode - also about a civil war - is fitting.  The article also provides a quote in which Picasso says that Guernica "clearly express[es] my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain into an ocean of pain and death."  This is similar to the pacifist view that the Mandalorian Duchess Satine held before she was killed by Maul in this episode.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S6E10 - "The Lost One"

The post contains general spoilers for Star Wars.

After a crashed shuttle containing Sifo-Dyas' lightsaber is found, the Jedi start looking into Sifo-Dyas' death, hoping they will learn how Sifo-Dyas ordered a clone army without their knowledge.  In their investigation, the Jedi discover that a file on Sifo-Dyas has been sealed by the office of the Supreme Chancellor.  Master Yoda visits the Chancellor to ask him about the file.

For most of their conversation, Chancellor Palpatine is standing so that his shadow falls on Yoda:

That the shadow falls where it does (which is certainly not coincidental since this is an animated show) illustrates Palpatine's deception of Yoda and the Jedi in general.  I'm not sure this has much relevance regarding the events in this specific episode, but Palpatine is definitely obscuring the Jedi's vision so that they don't discover his other identity as Darth Sidious.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S6E7 - "Crisis at the Heart"

The post might contains some spoilers.

While watching "Crisis at the Heart," I noticed an element of symbolism.  A droid starfighter shot down by a clone pilot crashes into the office where Clovis is desperately trying to convince Anakin and Padmé that it's Count Dooku who's deceiving them, not Clovis himself.  The office is at the top of a tower, which starts to tilt because of the damage it's sustained.  Anakin catches both Padmé and Clovis as they slide off the edge:

Significantly, he's holding Padmé with his remaining human arm (his left arm) and Clovis with his artificial arm (his right arm).  It's a bit difficult to tell because he's wearing gloves on both, but the glove on his artificial hand is a bit thicker and has what look like clasps:

The arms with which he's holding these two characters illustrate the different type of connection he has with each.  He has a very close relationship with Padmé, so he's holding her with his remaining human arm.  On the other hand (literally), he hasn't trusted Clovis throughout this arc of episodes (thinking he's too involved with the Separatists), so while he's holding him too, he holds him with his artificial arm, which symbolizes that distance between them.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S6E5 - "An Old Friend"

This post contains some spoilers.

After working with Rush Clovis to discover that the Banking Clan vaults have no money in them, Padmé Amidala is arrested for espionage.  Anakin Skywalker comes to free her, and when the prison door opens, there are two visual references to A New Hope.

First, there's Anakin's silhouette, which resembles Darth Vader's, particularly Vader's helmet.  I don't think this has any specific relevancy for this episode, but it is a foreshadowing (almost literally, since it's his silhouette) of what's to come.  When he steps into the room, his shadow becomes more rounded and loses this resemblance:

Second, there's Padmé's posture.  She's laying on a bench in a prison cell in the same way that Princess Leia is when she's imprisoned on the Death Star:

I've watched the whole Star Wars: The Clone Wars series twice now, and I've noticed a lot of little references to the Star Wars movies.  Many of these are pretty obvious, so I didn't feel they were worth writing about, but since this scene has two and because they're a bit more subtle, I thought I'd write about them.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S6E3 - "Fugitive"

In re-watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I recently began season six (although since season five, I've been watching the episodes in English again because I've seen seasons five and six only once).  I noticed a small detail in episode three, "Fugitive."

Having heard from AZ that his mind is going to be wiped, Fives escapes the custody of his fellow clone troopers, taking AZ with him and stealing the chip that was removed from Tup's head.  Later, they sneak back into the medical facility in order to "continue our research," as AZ puts it.  Convinced that there's a chip inside his own head, Fives tells AZ, "You have to take it out."  However, AZ is hesitant and tells Fives that it's a "dangerous surgery" and "you may die," to which Fives replies, "It's a chance I have to take.  I trust you."

Throughout the episode, AZ's mouth lights up when he's speaking.  But after Fives tells him, "I trust you," it lights up without his saying anything and stays lit for a few seconds before he finally says, "All right, I will do it."

Because it's been established that a lit mouth is a speaking mouth (in other words, an open mouth), AZ's mouth being lit here without his saying anything is the droid equivalent of his mouth hanging open in surprise.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S2E16 - "Cat and Mouse"

While re-watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I noticed a design element in S2E16 "Cat and Mouse" that I'd missed before.

Under the command of Admiral Trench, the Separatists have blockaded Christophsis.  The episode starts with the Republic forces' attempt to break through the blockade.

Watching the episode this time, I noticed that Trench's command ship has six eyes painted on it so that the ship itself looks a bit like Trench.

Shortly after this scene, Admiral Yularen identifies Trench via a different marking on the ship:

but the six eyes painted on the prow seem to be an equally distinctive indication of who's commanding the ship.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S1E9 - "Cloak of Darkness"

This post contains spoilers.

A couple months ago, I started re-watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars from the beginning.  Rather than just watch the episodes again, I'm watching them with the French audio to try to improve my French.

I recently watched the four-episode Geonosis arc in season two, which got me thinking about "Cloak of Darkness" from season one (the first episode Luminara Unduli is in, as more than just a hologram, at least).  I'd watched it weeks before, but it was only recently that I realized something about the fight between Commander Gree and Captain Argyus.

Early in the fight, Argyus kicks Gree, dislodging his helmet.  The remainder of the fight is between a helmeted Argyus and a helmet-less Gree:

Their respective head gear reveals their characters.  Argyus is the leader of the senate commandos, but he's betrayed the Republic and is helping Nute Gunray escape.  He seems more concerned with himself than either side of the war though, telling Gree that he wanted "a life with more than empty servitude" and gloating to Gunray after a successful escape that "I'll be a legend for this."  His shifting loyalty is represented by his retaining his helmet, which obscures his face:

Gree, on the other hand, is steadfastly loyal to the Republic.  When Gunray tries to bribe him at the beginning of the episode (saying "I am a man of great wealth, and I can be very generous to my allies"), he doesn't even consider it, and he's indignant about Argyus' betraying the Republic.  There's no deception with Gree, which is represented by his not wearing a helmet here.  He's not hiding anything.

As far as their positions, Argyus and Gree are parallel characters.  Argyus is a captain, and Gree is a commander.  By the end of this episode, their character arcs reveal the value of their choices.  Gree has a virtuous morality and survives the incident, but Argyus, who seems concerned with only his own interests, is killed by Ventress: